Budo international Martial Arts Magazine Jul.-Aug. 2014 | Page 250

meeting spaces to hold the
refereeing course, the congress,
spaces for the delegations to check
in, meeting rooms and so on, but
that's all. Then for the European
Championships it's similar but on
smaller scale. Even the deposit we
ask for is only 6,000, while the
number of hotel rooms is less than
half.”
It’s good that people should know
these things, because sometimes they
may think that things are different from
the way they really are.
“Yes, but I think some people
criticise us not because they don’t
know the facts but with bad
intentions. I don’t know why if the
information is there they don’t just
deal with it.”
Because each person takes a piece
of information and uses only the part of
it that fits their agenda. They pick and
choose. If people know four good
things and two bad things about
somebody it’s in their interests to
criticise, they only hold on to one of
the bad ones.
“I give the figures, the
information, and then if someone
thinks that 30,000 Swiss francs for
air fares is a scandal, daylight
robbery, there's not much I can do
about it. If people think that 240
nights at the HQ is daylight robbery,
then it’s daylight robbery. Everyone’s
free to make their own mind up. But
the facts are what they are.”
We shouldn’t forget that this is all
top-level sporting politics. For those

of us who operate in the area of
traditional karate where all we care
abo ut – wit h a few ho no urable
except io ns – are t he day -t o -day
goings-on within the privacy of the
dojo, all this seems very far removed
from us. To me, except for the WKF
World Championships in my home
town, Guadalajara, all this is a world
apart fro m the way I experience
karate, but I do understand that at
the level of top competition, sporting
politics, and so on, that’s the way
things work. It’s like different people
speaking different languages. At the
Guadalajara World Championships in
2013 I was able to see how all this is
a movement that financially affects
everybody, everywhere. Those who
do t he o rg anis atio n, t ho s e who
provide the funds. I have no problem
with any of that. But, as I say, it’s
quite different for some people not to
care about any of that movement
because they understand it not to
have anything to do with how they
practise karate.
Antonio, how have you been able to
juggle doing your job at a major
construction firm with your duties and
the WKF? And what about your family,
because you’ve got four children,
haven’t you?
“Yes,
four
children.
Two
daughters, aged 35 and 33, one with
two children of her own and the
other with one, and two sons, aged
27 and 23, who still live at home with
me. And, as you know, I’m a civil
engineer and I’ve been doing that

until last year, when I retired.”
And how have you managed to keep
on working with all the travelling you
have to do for the WKF?
“Well, by travelling less than I do
now since I’ve retired. And with a lot
of hard work and dedication. It’s
been quite hard. I graduated in 1973
and I've been working since then, 39
years, without missing a single day,
working full time. They didn’t let me
take early retirement.”
Really?
“It wasn’t in their interests. I ran
the firm’s Madrid office but for very
many years later I was at
international, and there aren’t many
people with experience who can do
that job. They didn’t let me until I
tur ned 65, and even then they
wanted me to carry on! But no.”
You’ve never been paid a salary as
such at the WKF, have you?
“No. Never.”
Now let’s turn back to your early
days in karate, as a karateka. What are
your first memories of karate?
“We have to go back to 1969. I
started with the Koreans. First with
Kim at the Samurai gym on Juan
Bravo street. Then Kim left Samurai
and set up the Kimicho gym with
another Korean, Cho. What they did
was known then as Korean karate.
We competed for Madrid, with
students of Yamashita, Ishimi, and
other Japanese.”
How was your first contact with
Antonio Oliva, with whom you would
go on to have close dealings?